


Within Reach

by Breeze100



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Because it was so hard to find the right relationship tag, Cute, F/F, Fluff, Helen x Karen, Helen/Karen, Hope you enjoy, Is this the first fic of this ship?, Karen "Voyd" - Freeform, Oneshot, Voyd, anyway, incredibles - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 02:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15500070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Breeze100/pseuds/Breeze100
Summary: Karen invites Helen out for a coffee after Screenslaver's plans have been thwarted, and learns a few things about the huge differences time can make.





	Within Reach

“This is...uncommon,” Helen said aloud as she took her seat in at the small cafe booth. “Not unwelcome though.”

Karen looked up from her phone as casually as she could, acting as though she hadn’t been constantly checking the door since the moment she’d arrived an hour earlier. Though, much as she tried, she couldn’t help but spring to her feet and wait for Helen to sit down, as she saw it as only polite for someone she admired so thoroughly. 

“Oh, hi! Hey! Yeah, I’m just so glad you said yes. I mean, you had no reason to really. I’m not important like Mr Deavor, or like a family friend like Frozone, so I didn’t exactly expect you to say yes to a second-rate hero like me. Did you know that’s what they’re calling us? Second rate. Anyway…”

“Karen, sweetie, take a breath. We have all afternoon.” She did as instructed and gave a small, lopsided smile as she pushed a handful of blue hair out of her face and behind her ear. “There we go. Better?” 

“Yeah, thanks.” She looked up again and finally met her eyes after realising she’d been avoiding it for so long.”Um...I just wanted to thank you personally. And, you know, apologise too. I guess that parts more important, but still. Everybody likes a thank you.” 

The curious look Helen gave made Karen nervous, entirely unreasonably so. “Apologise and thank me. I’m drawing a blank as to why you’d need to do either of those things if I’m honest. But before we go into it, would you mind if we ordered? I was a little run off my feet this morning.” 

“Oh! Oh, of course! Yeah. One sec, I have the perfect thing in mind.” She continued talking as she got up, and nearly hit a passing patron on their way out. After apologising profusely, she turned back to Helen.” Well, I hope it’s perfect. You’re….you and you probably only eat like the best stuff because...look at you. Maybe I should just let you order since you…”

“Karen, I’ll leave it to you. But thank you for the thought.” 

The gentle smile she gave her sent Karen from one extreme to the other. Where just a few moments prior, she’d been an overexcited puppy, yapping away and unable to sit still, one sincere look of warmth from Elastigirl, the Elastigirl, shut her right up. It was probably better than allowing herself to her lost in a tongue tied mess. When she got to the counter, the bright, colourful menu was filled with choices, but she’d already decided on what she was going to get.

A few moment later, she returned to the table with a plate and coffee for each of them. Along the surface of the foamy, milky cups was a very familiar looking ‘I’ surrounded by two curved lines, that met at the top of the letter. On Helen’s plate sat a delicious smelling sandwich, which had the Elastigirl symbol on its surface in dark grilled cheese. Karen’s own plate was similarly Super themed, but instead had a more complex image of Elastigirl herself, stretching from one end to the other. 

“They call it Super Sundays. They make some dishes to honor the Supers that look after the city. Cute right? And I thought, what better sandwich to give you than the one inspired by you. With you being El…” 

“Ecstatic to be here? Yes, I’m glad you invited me. It looks delicious.” She gave her a knowing look, unburdened by the black mask that usual obscured her features, and picked up her drink to take a slow, testing sip. She leaned forward across the table and kept her voice low. “Sorry. Even with Supers being legal now, I still prefer to keep the two worlds separate. One of me can’t leave the house without being swarmed.” 

“Right.Yeah. Sorry.” Karen finally breathed as Helen leaned away again and picked up her sandwich to give her fidgety hands something to do. 

“So, back to what we started before.” Helen said as she set her mug down. “About apologising and thanking?” 

Karen’s full mouth fought to chew as rapidly as she could so she could speak. She contemplated sending her hand chewed mess to the nearest trash can with her ability, but a soft look and an encouragement for her to take her time put her mind at ease. 

“Thanks. I mean...thanks on top of everything else.” She put her food down and leaned on her arms. “Well, the ‘thank yous’ are very general. Thanks for being...you. For doing what you do. Saving people, inspiring people.” Helen gave her another knowing look, and she realised she’d been getting a little too loud. Possibly drawing too much attention. “You’re the gold standard for people like us. You’re the one that gave me the confidence to be who I am. And then, you’re also the one that made it legal to be who that is. So...I really can’t thank you enough. I don’t think you know how much you’ve done for me…” Somehow she looked up to meet Helen’s soft, warm eyes. To return the gentle smile on her lips. “A-and people like me, of course. N-not just me...heh.” She looked away again, feeling equal parts relieved and embarrassed. 

A moment passed before she felt something gentle against her arm and, when she looked down, she saw it was Helen’s hand, stretched beneath the table to obscure it, rubbing against her comfortingly. “If women like you are what they’re calling ‘second rate’, I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do, who you’re going to become, when you get stronger and wiser.”

Karen smiled down at the hand before putting her own over Helen’s. “You’re always so good at that…” She whispered quietly, and, again, Helen tilted her head in confusion. “Being the hero. Saying the right things. Encouraging people. Inspiring people. It’s like you were born to do this.”

“Believe me, I wasn’t always like this. I was quite the little punk back in the day, believe it or not.” 

“I don’t. I don’t believe it. You, a punk? In what world would Ela...Helen Parr be a punk?” 

“The same world where she rides motorcycles and sports a mohawk,” she chuckled airly before retracting her hand. After a playful wink, she returned to her food while it was still warm. Karen, on the other hand, was too deep in her own thoughts to recover and resume eating. She winked at me. Elastigirl winked at me! Her leg bounced excitedly as she imagined a young Helen, riding her motorcycle, maybe a big loud one, wearing a leather jacket and biker boots. The image was fun but also didn’t quite fit with the Helen she knew today. It was all too rebellious. Too masculine. Too…

“Don’t look so surprised. We’re all young once. Now eat up, your food’s getting cold.” Karen shook her head clear and got halfway through her meal before speaking again. Or at least, she thought she was speaking. She hadn’t quite found her voice yet. 

“S-so, do you have any pictures from that time. Because I really can’t imagine the great...you, being...that. Then again, I never would have imagined you in a dark, sexy black and grey suit either…”

Before Karen had time to dig herself a hole at the slip of the tongue, Helen was pulling out her phone to try and find the picture she had in mind. If she heard what Karen had said, she wasn’t addressing it, and the younger woman thanked whoever was listening for small mercies. A moment later, Helen turned her phone and showed her a picture of herself, riding a dark motorcycle, clearly mid acceleration. She was indeed wearing a leather jacket, but what she wasn’t expecting was the other person in the picture, a long haired girl hanging onto Helen from behind, arms locked around her waist. “Whoa…” She breathed. “I never would have thought that was you! So who’s the girl?”

“An old friend,” she responded fondly as she took the phone back and put it back into her pocket. She returned to her food and looked up again once she was finished. “So, that was the thank you. Where does the apology come in?” 

“Oh, that. Um…” She blushed as she tried to remember the best one that she’d come up with the night before. “Yeah. I wanted to say sorry for...for not being good enough in that last fight. I got captured so easily, I destroyed your home, I nearly hurt your kids and delivered them to the worst villain Metroville has ever seen...I did a lot wrong in that week.”

“Karen…” The hand returned, but this time, simply took Karen’s, rather than resting on her arm. “I got captured too. So did Bob. You can’t curse yourself for that, nor can you apologise for it.” 

“But…”

“But what you can do, is look to the future, and learn from the past. Yes, you got captured, but you were strong enough, and you worked well enough with your team, that you managed to take down one of the biggest Supers the world has to offer. You also managed to do that whilst fighting off the world’s most ridiculous car, and the world’s most unpredictable baby. To me, that’s something to be proud of.” When Karen began to protest, Helen’s finger snaked upward to hover over her lips. It lasted only a second, but worked a charm. “If you allow yourself to dwell and spiral, you won’t get anywhere. You won’t help anyone. Look back and learn, but then move forward. That’s what is going to take your from who you are, to the legend you can become.”

“You’re...so amazing…” Karen breathed, causing Helen to let out a little chuckle as she leaned back. 

“I need the bathroom, but I’ll be back in a second.” She slipped from her cushioned seat and made her way to the back of the cafe whilst Karen sat in her seat trying adamantly to keep herself together. But with the warmth spreading in her cheeks like wildfire, her hands feeling clammy and moist,and her little gay heart ready to explode, she wasn’t doing a good job of it at all. She picked up her phone and headed outside, not to leave, but simply to take a call that wouldn’t have a constant audience. 

“I just need you to listen for a while, okay!” She said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet, before launching into a fast, confusing and endearing tirade of emotions and feelings, sometimes simply recounting the things Helen had said, sometimes diving deeper, explaining her theory on her past life and the wink… “I’m just gay. I’m just so gay. I’ve met her before a few times and still, I’m just a gay mess. She’s so pretty and kind and...heroic” Unconsciously, she’d began pacing, but stayed within the cafe’s windows. .”And I swear she wasn’t always straight. Like if you saw that picture... And her hips and insane. Like, TV doesn’t do her justice at all! She’s just perfect and I...I...I…” Karen’s phone slid from her hand as she turned and found herself face to face with Helen, mere inches apart as she’d taken a sudden step in her clumsiness. 

Quick as a flash though, Helen’s arm stretched out and caught the phone before it hit the ground. She smiled warmly still as she handed the phone back to Karen. “I...I…” Karen continued, unable to even begin to put a coherent sentence together. 

“Your admiration is heartwarming. And I hope that I’m always able to be worthy of it.” She said and watched Karen melt a little more before she tapped her arm, trying to sna her out of it. “If you had more question about my past, you could have just asked.” 

Karen rubbed her face with her free hand and before covering her eyes with her arm. “You weren’t supposed to hear that…” She mumbled to herself, wishing the world would just swallow her whole. And luckily for her, she could do just that. At a quick blink of her eye, a portal opened beneath her feet, taking her away from Helen immediately. However, Helen was too quick and simply followed her through. She she looked to see where she was, it only took her a moment to feel the stronger winds and feel the lack of buildings above her, for the simple fact that they were below her. Voyd had taken them to the highest building in the vicinity in an effort to get away, which only made Helen chuckle more. Karen whirled around quickly at having not noticed anyone joining her in the portals. As a precaution, Helen put on her mask before coming to sit next to Karen again. “You’re right. Younger Helen was very different to the current one. She may even have shared the feelings that you have.” She saw Karen visibly stiffen, and placed a soothing hand to her shoulder. “Feelings that are nothing to be ashamed of. Feelings I’m flattered by. But I don’t think it’s Helen you’re attracted to. Not the dressed down mother. You like the Super. The Hero.” 

“Maybe. But...I think I like it all. In an admiring way as well as a…”

“A physical way?” She concluded, to which Karen nodded guitily. 

“But you’re married and I know it’s just some stupid crush so it won’t happen. Sorry you heard all that. Now I’ve made things weird and…” 

Helen silenced her again,but not with a look or finger to her lips. This time, Elastigirl silenced the worries of Voyd by gently pulling her closer by the back of her neck and kissing her tenderly. It only lasted a moment, but it left Karen in an even bigger state of non-functionality than before. “Helen is married. Elastigirl is someone else.” She whispered before getting up and making her way to the edge of the building. 

“Don’t be a stranger.” She called as she slipped from the building and disappeared from sight.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little one shot I did for a friend since i was bored. I've been looking to do some Helen x Evelyn, so if you have any prompts you want to see written out, let me know at http://the-gaming-gem.tumblr.com/
> 
> Thanks for reading this far down
> 
> See you next time
> 
> -B


End file.
